ARE LATINOS THE CONSUMER POWERHOUSE RESHAPING AMERICA?

This Easter weekend I went to an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York called “Foreclosure: Rehousing The American Dream,” a fascinating view into what the future of urban and suburban housing in America could look like. For this exhibit, five architectural teams proposed how they would re-invest the TARP money of 2008 to revitalize foreclosure-ravaged suburbs near five major cities in the United States.

I came away feeling most impressed about the transformational impact that Latinos are already having on this country and wondering if most companies are really prepared for what is around the corner. I was most impressed with how clearly they understood the demographic impact of both the rise of Hispanics as a mega buying force in the home-buyer market.

Photographs by Don Pollard.

While Hispanics were certainly not the focus of this exhibit, their impact on four of the five places featured could not be denied. From Rialto, Calif., to Cicero, Ill., where 88% of the population is Hispanic, Latino attitudes about homeownership were not only prominently featured and discussed by architects, but also helped frame the developing of what the exhibit calls the “national conversation on issues of housing, transportation, and public space.”

When I got home, I remembered that I had recently downloaded the latest report on the State of Hispanic Homeownership, published in March by The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and found that, in spite of also being hit by the housing crisis between 2007 and 2010, they too were predicting a new Latino housing mega trend.

“Over the next 10 years, Hispanics are expected to account for 40 percent of the estimated 12 million net new households, with minorities comprising 70 percent of total growth,” says Alejandro Becerra, author of the report. Unlike other groups, Latinos have not been big on saving for retirement. This is partly due to a cultural legacy that, hopefully, should change over the next few decades. Our American Dream has always mainly revolved around buying a home and depending on family to take care of us.

“An unrelenting drive to succeed combined with strong family values and larger family sizes fuel their yearning for a place to call home,” says Becerra. “This strong work ethic, often combined with a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit, adds up to major consumerism. The Hispanic market made up over 50 percent of real growth in the U.S. consumer economy from 2005 to 2008, with $52 billion in new spending.”

According to the Census, Hispanics are already a significant segment of the workforce. “The role of Latinos in the nation’s labor force in the manufacturing, construction, real estate and service industries is both monumental and crucial. For well over a decade, Hispanics have also had the highest labor force participation in the nation. Currently, 66.7% of all working-age Latinos are employed, nearly three percentage points higher than the rest of the U.S. population,” adds Becerra.

And while many Baby Boomers are expected to age in place, the NAHREP report says that “current mobility rates suggest that 3.8 million baby boomers could downsize over the coming decade, adding further to the demand for compact, lower-cost homes.” As a result, smart start-ups like Boomerator,Southeast Discovery and GetawayStyle are all setting up to cater to the needs of this huge demographic shift.

But I don’t see the same kind of focus and innovation reaching and catering to Hispanics. In spite of the Hispanic demographic tsunami that everyone agrees is upon us, many companies still dedicate only 3% to 5% of their budgets to marketing to Latinos. If that’s your strategy to win in this economy.

Comments

Hello to all of you. I am a political blogger and post to many of the sites here in the U.S. I am also a Republican but have been, for many years a Democrat. When Barack Obama became president, I changes once I saw what he was about. I tell you these things for your own good. So many people in the U.S. are either in a state of serious denial or they just do not want to know the truth. First of all, I know that many Mexicans, whites and blacks will support Obama simple because he is black. Many others will support him because they believe he will give them everything they want. I guess those are valid reasons to the person they belong to. I do know this however, Obama is a devout Muslim and believes in Allah. He does not believe in God. He is anti-American, pro-socialist and practices the trick he learned by studying Saul Alinsky’s book on organizing a society. If you vote for Obama, you are voting for a man who is without God, a man who will give you what you want, for a short time only. The man has lied from day one and has an administration that is bent on racial divide and hate. That is the way he will re-organize society…racial hatred and division in his attempt to make the US into a marxist nation. Do not fall for the deceits of this man. Do not vote for him. You are a part of the American society and I am sure you want the very same things I and millions of other Americans want….less taxes, better chances for ourselves and our children, health and hoped for prosperity. We do not want a country this is based on Islam and we do not want a president who is Islamc from birth.

Thank you for your comment as I do believe everyone is entitled 2 their opinion and can appreciate that you are making the effort to be politically involved. That is definitely commendable, however “for healthy debate’s sake,” I would like to point out that I am a Christian and President Obama has always declared he is a Christian. He went to the same Christian church for 20 years & for his inauguration even had the Lincoln Bible especially chosen.

On the other hand, let’s just say that you are right & he has been lying to everyone & is this undercover Muslim. If we review history, in Judaism, one prays to the God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. In Christianity, one also prays to the God of Abraham Isaac & Jacob only we now do it in the name of Jesus who is the Divine Son of God. The Islam religion also branched off of Judaism and also prays to the God of Abraham, however they don’t believe there is the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob because then that is stating that the Jews are the chosen ones which they do not believe. Ishmael was also the son of Abraham and thus they also believe that they are also chosen. Therefore, they believe in the God of Abraham but choose to use the Arabic word Allah because they feel it is pure where as the English word God can be misused.

For example, God + s = Gods If you add ‘S’ to God, it becomes Gods that is plural of God. Allah is one and singular there is no plural of Allah. Same with godfather, godmother, etc., therefore because they feel it is more sacred they use the word “Allah.” Just as the Jews used the tetragrammaton YHWH which is supposed to be the equivalent to “Yahweh.” Remember the term was removed because they did not feel worthy enough to use God’s personal name that they began associating him to “Elohim”, “Adonai,” “El Shaddai” etc. The word “Addonai” Translators often render YHWH as a word meaning “Lord”, e.g., Greek Κυριος, Latin Dominus, and following that, English “the LORD”, Welsh Arglwydd, etc.

Therefore, the Muslim religion believes in the God of Abraham very much. The terrorists have been Muslim but it is not fair of us to judge an entire religion based on the acts of a few bad seeds. If we classify every Muslim as a terrorist, then isn’t that being “UnAmerican” of us?

Now, let’s look at Romney’s religion. He is a Mormon and they consider themselves to be under the Christian umbrella. However, the reason there is so much controversy with their religion being associated to Christianity is because a Christian believes in the teachings of Christ and that He is in fact the Divine Son of God. However, Mormons believe Christ existed, but they do not believe Jesus Christ was the Messiah & the Divine Son of God. Rather they believe that each of us has a god-like spirit that can cause us to be somewhat divine, so when Jesus performed miracles it was not because He was divine rather it was because He knew how to utilize that “divine” human spirit within all of us. Therefore, like the Mormons, Muslims also believe that Jesus existed but that He was not the Divine Son of God. However, the Muslims are biblical in the sense that they do not believe we have a divine human spirit rather they believe Jesus was a prophet God used and go as far as even believing that Jesus Christ was indeed born of Immaculate Conception.

Therefore if President Obama were in fact Muslim, then both Romney and him have religions with the same core belief…there is only one God; the God of Abraham and Jesus was just a man not the Son of God.

Additionally, the majority of Latinos side with President Obama not because he’s black but because he is addressing the issues Latinos believe in & are important to them. On the other hand Romney has been on the opposite side of every issue that is important to Hispanics.

This blog does not endorse either candidate or either party; we simply provide facts, information & resources that pertain to the Hispanic community.

I believe it is very important to be involved politically and therefore I thank you & appreciate your comment. God bless!

This blog does not endorse either candidate. We simply provide facts, information & resources that pertain to the Hispanic community.

I believe it is very important to be involved politically and therefore I thank you & appreciate your comment. God bless!

Anyy self-respecting haulier with an eye for future long-term growth knows that high-quality service and business success aree no accident’there is a method to it, and a stringent one at that.

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